Controversy over Gov. McCrory's game of catch continues

The question over whether Gov. Pat McCrory ducked a group of constituents to play a game of catch on the Capitol grounds Monday continues.

It all started when a group of public education advocates led by former seven-term Congressman Bob Etheridge, with kids in little red wagons in tow, dropped off some 16,000 petitions at the Capitol. They were told the governor was in a meeting.

However, just 10 minutes later, pictures were taken of the governor playing catch right around the corner from where the group of more than 50 people dropped those petitions off.

The story drew howls on both sides on the ABC11 Facebook page.

"The governor was demonstrating that he has no interest in the education of the children in North Carolina," said Chris Spenser, in a Facebook post.

"Did they have an appointment? No. Oh, okay. Move along," said Facebook poster Christy Hunter Meyers. "Who cares what he was doing if he wasn't skipping an appointment with them."

"The governor didn't have to meet with them especially if they didn't have an appointment," said Facebook poster Lisa Jones. "However I do not expect him to lie if the meeting didn't 'end early.'"

The story might have ended there, but a statement from the governor's office kept it alive. They talked about the governor following first lady Michelle Obama's lead by trying to get exercise every day.

The statement finished with, "Governor McCrory will be back out tomorrow throwing the baseball perhaps with children who share his All-American passion."

So Wednesday, ABC11 went back to the Capitol to see how this story played out. Most of the day was spent waiting. Crews waited to see if the governor would get out and exercise and waited to see if he'd talk about what happened Monday.

Some parents and their children also decided to come to the Capitol for similar reasons.

"We were hoping to play ball with the governor," said Cary resident Tina Sherman. "We understood he was interested in playing catch with kids. We wanted to talk to him about investing in North Carolina's children."

Neither of those moms or their kids got to see McCrory, although he did leave the Capitol twice, by ABC11's count, on foot.

We asked McCrory if we could speak to him three times about Monday.

"No, we're on our way to a meeting," said McCrory. "I appreciate it."

ABC11 was at the Capitol pretty much all day Wednesday, but McCrory didn't play ball outside.

However, he did release a video showing support for the Tarheels and Wolfpack in the College World Series this weekend. In the video, McCrory referencing playing catch and even threw a baseball around.